‘Well ladies and gentlemen, as you’ve noticed departure time has passed’ said the Captain. I was travelling on an excellent fare from Male to Hong Kong, and onwards to New York in Cathay Pacific’s Business Class.

The story it appears was that the late Singapore Airlines flight had landed on the runway, but had broken down and could not be moved, and that it had released a large amount of liquid whilst doing this.

‘As you can imagine it may take some time here to get this cleared up’

With a single runway for take-offs and landing, Mahe had a problem. It was past midnight by the time we managed to leave. I felt sorry for the passengers on the SQ flight who had to spend another night in the Maldives as their plane was cancelled.

We were only about 2 1/2 hours late when we left; the second plane away. The comfortable business class seat on Cathay meant that most passengers napped whilst we waited. The crew dimmed the lights to make this easier.

Other aircraft were also stuck:

As the crew had flown in on the same plane, there was a little bit of concern that they might run out of hours if the flight was very delayed.

Food And Drink

This was the Sliced Beef:

Arrival
We came in to a gate at the very end of the terminal at Hong Kong. A quick train ride to the main terminal and transfer security, meant that I was in The Wing within about 20 minutes of landing.